Emerling Floss Murphy & Associates

What Emerling Floss Murphy & Associates does

Emerling Floss Murphy & Associates (EFM&A) is a privately held independent insurance brokerage and financial services firm headquartered in Clarence, New York, with a second branch in Lockport. The company was formed on July 1, 2020 through the merger of three Western New York agencies — Emerling Agency LLC, Floss Agency Inc., and M.F. Murphy Insurance Inc. — bringing together nearly 200 years of combined insurance experience, with the Murphy lineage traceable to 1925. EFM&A serves individuals, families, and small-to-medium businesses across Western New York, offering home, auto, Medicare, commercial (workers compensation, commercial auto, complex business), group benefits, and financial services, with wealth management and retirement planning delivered through the May 2025 EMS Wealth merger with First Aurora Financial Group.

The firm's underlying technology is intentionally minimal: it operates as a traditional licensed brokerage without a proprietary platform, API, SDK, or mobile application, relying instead on carrier-provided portals, website quote-request forms, and standard agency management tools. Its value proposition is the independent broker model — representing multiple carriers (Erie, Michigan Millers via EMS Group Preferred Partner status, and others) and assembling customized coverage programs across personal, commercial, and financial lines. EFM&A is a member of the EMS Group, a network of independent agencies that aggregates production to improve carrier pricing leverage, alongside Stahlka Agency and McMahon Agency.

EFM&A earns revenue primarily through carrier commissions on policies placed and renewed, with quote-based individualized pricing and monthly billing cadence typical of the segment. Go-to-market is sales-led and relationship-driven, executed through two physical offices, direct consultations by licensed professionals, community sponsorships, a content/resource website, and quarterly newsletters. Ownership remains with the founding families (President Joe Floss, Partner Mary Murphy, Partner Scott Medole), with no institutional or private equity capital disclosed. The firm has been recognized four consecutive years on Buffalo Business First's Best Places to Work in Western New York.

Name

Emerling Floss Murphy & Associates

Legal name

Emerling Floss Murphy & Associates, LLC

Website

https://efm-agency.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2020

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Emerling Floss Murphy & Associates is a privately held independent insurance brokerage and financial services firm serving individuals, families, and SMBs across Western New York from offices in Clarence and Lockport, offering personal, commercial, Medicare, group benefits, and wealth management products through multiple carrier partnerships.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Insurance Brokerage

NAICS

Insurance Agencies and Brokerages (52421), Agencies, Brokerages, and Other Insurance Related Activities (5242)

SIC

Insurance Agents, Brokers & Service (6411)

akta.pro primary industry

Retail (Personal Lines) Insurance Brokerage (FSAEADAA)

akta.pro secondary industry

Insurance-Integrated Wealth Managers (RIA + Insurance Solutions) (FSAAACAI)

Keywords

• Independent insurance brokerage
• Personal lines insurance
• Commercial insurance coverage
• Group benefits administration
• Wealth management services

Headquarters

HQ city

Clarence

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Insurance Brokerage Commissions: Revenue generated through commissions paid by insurance carriers for placing client coverage. As an independent broker, EFM&A represents multiple insurance companies and earns commissions on policies sold and renewed.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Emerling Floss Murphy & Associates is an independent insurance brokerage that places personal and commercial coverage with multiple carriers on behalf of clients in Western New York. The agency sells home, auto, Medicare, business, and workers compensation insurance, alongside employer group benefits and financial/wealth management services delivered through affiliated partners.

Product overview

Emerling Floss Murphy & Associates is an independent insurance agency and financial services firm that operates as a unified portfolio of insurance and advisory products. The company offers home insurance (including flood, pet, and service line coverage), auto insurance (with recreational and commercial vehicle options), Medicare, business insurance (including complex commercial risks and workers compensation), group benefits, and financial services (wealth management, retirement planning, and insurance products). The agency functions as an independent broker, combining products from multiple carriers to customize protection programs for clients. The company also provides HR services and online policy management tools. All products are offered through the company's two branch locations in Clarence and Lockport, NY, with financial services delivered through affiliated partners including First Aurora Financial Group.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Home Insurance

Named customers1 record

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• Michigan Millers InsuranceminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 15 July 2025Insurance carrier partner. EMS Group (affiliated network) was named 2025 Preferred Partner by Michigan Millers Insurance.
• First Aurora Financial GroupcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 May 2025EMS Wealth Management merged with First Aurora Financial Group in May 2025. Provides wealth management, insurance products, and retirement planning services to EFM&A clients.
• EMS GroupcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 July 2020EMS Group is a network of independent insurance agencies formed in 1995, including EFM&A, Stahlka Agency Inc., and McMahon Agency Inc. Allows agencies to collaborate best practices and aggregate carrier production requirements for better pricing.
• LaSalle St. Securities LLCcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorSecurities offered through LaSalle St. Securities LLC, member FINRA/SIPC. Advisory services offered through affiliated LaSalle St. Investment Advisors, LLC.
• Erie Insurance CompanyminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorCore insurance carrier partner. Joe Floss named Erie Insurance Company's 2020 Giving Network Agent of the Year.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Lockton Companies: Lockton is the world's largest privately-held insurance brokerage, offering commercial, personal, and benefits brokerage with an entrepreneurial culture. Its private, partner-led model and emphasis on relationship-driven service parallel EFM&A's family-owned approach.
• Hub International Limited: Hub International is a large insurance brokerage built through the acquisition and integration of independent regional brokerages across North America. Its acquisition-heavy growth playbook and product breadth closely mirror EFM&A's independent-broker positioning.
• Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Gallagher is a global insurance brokerage and risk management firm with a sizable retail brokerage segment that serves commercial and personal lines clients. Its retail division competes for the same multi-line, relationship-driven customers that EFM&A serves.
• Brown & Brown, Inc. Brown & Brown is a large publicly-traded insurance brokerage that grows primarily through acquiring independent agencies and retail brokerages. Its core operating model — partnering with and consolidating independent agencies — is directly analogous to EFM&A's structure.

Direct peers

• Acrisure: Acrisure is a tech-enabled, multi-carrier insurance brokerage that has scaled aggressively through acquisitions of independent agencies. Like EFM&A, it operates an independent-broker model with multi-line product offerings across personal, commercial, and specialty lines, though at vastly greater scale.
• Burns & Wilcox: Burns & Wilcox is a wholesale insurance broker specializing in excess & surplus lines, specialty personal, and commercial coverage. Its role as a wholesale partner to retail agencies like EFM&A makes it functionally comparable within the independent distribution ecosystem.
• Haylor, Freyer & Coon: Haylor, Freyer & Coon is a privately-held, family-rooted New York-based insurance brokerage offering commercial, personal, group benefits, and financial services — a near-perfect structural and product-mix analogue to EFM&A in a comparable Northeastern U.S. market.
• RPS (Risk Placement Services): RPS is a specialty insurance wholesale brokerage and binding authority platform serving retail agents and brokers. It represents the wholesale and specialty distribution channel that complements independent retail brokerages like EFM&A in placing complex or non-standard risks.
• Worldwide Insurance Associates: Worldwide Insurance Associates is a growing independent insurance brokerage offering personal, commercial, and specialty lines, often through acquisitions of regional agencies. Its multi-line, multi-state growth model and agency-acquisition strategy make it a close smaller-scale analogue to EFM&A's positioning.

Others

• Assurex Global: Assurex Global is a worldwide network of independent insurance and risk management agencies that collaborate on carrier access, best practices, and large-account placement. It is structurally analogous to EFM&A's EMS Group affiliation, making it a directly comparable network model.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Emerling Floss Murphy & Associates